World's Fastest

A remarkable new battery and ultra-charger combo from Hong Kong's Desten Group claims 400-km electric vehicle top-ups in 4 minutes, 40 seconds, transferring energy at nearly a megawatt without excessive heat and lasting more than 3,000 cycles.

Behold, ye fast, ye foolish, ye fiscally blessed and ye family laden. Brabus has deigned to furnish worthy garages with a 900-horsepower GLE-based SUV capable of 330 km/h (205 mph). This should be sufficient for most trips to the shops, no?

Two teams, Switzerland's SP80 and France's Syroco, are taking aim at the world speed sailing record in 2022, with a pair of thoroughly remarkable kiteboats that both teams believe can smash previous records, targeting top speeds up to 80 knots.

There are a handful of cars capable of busting out a quarter-mile sprint in less than 10 seconds, straight out of the crate – but there's only one that can do it under nine. Rimac's all-electric Nevera has recorded an astonishing 8.582-second run.

What happens when a maker of three-wheeled EVs teams up with a maker of super-fast electric motorcycles? Well, in the case of a collaboration between Arcimoto and Lightning, the result should be the world's fastest tilting three-wheeled motorcycle.

French company Iguana is taking aim at the record books with a new amphibious boat patterned after its military and emergency offerings, and designed to outsprint every other amphibian on the market with a peak output of 900 horsepower.

Back in May, Vision Marine opened reservations for its E-Motion 180E, the world's most powerful electric outboard. The motor could soon become the world's fastest, too, as Vision teams up to go after the world's fastest electric boat title.

The Tesla Model S has evolved again, becoming even more outrageous than it already was. Say goodbye to half the steering wheel, the gear selector and indicator stalks, and hello to a high-end gaming computer in the fastest-accelerating car ever made.

Shelby Supercars has cemented its claim that the SSC Tuatara is the world's fastest car – but in a weirdly underwhelming fashion. Its new record of 282.9 mph (455.3 km/h) is nowhere near the previous claim, which was sensationally debunked last year.

No props, no jets, no rockets – Spencer Lisenby just broke the world speed record for remote controlled aircraft, going transonic using nothing but the wind, and an incredible degree of skill in a highly dangerous technique called dynamic soaring.

Although velomobiles are known for being faster than bicycles, some of the more "practical" models can be rather ungainly. That doesn't apply to the Snoek, though, which is built first and foremost for speed.

America's Shelby Supercars has more or less abandoned its world's fastest car claim after eagle-eyed YouTubers pointed out a number of embarrassing, possibly costly discrepancies in its video of the SSC Tuatara making a claimed 316-mph two-way run.